Of all the bands that have a difficult relationship with digital music, The Beatles stand above AC/DC, Metallica and Pink Floyd as the most troublesome. Apple Corps has a long-standing dispute with EMI that prevents the Fab Four's music from being available on services like iTunes, Spotify and Last.fm.

But after George Harrison's son Dhani met MTV's president, Van Toffler, in 2006, and suggested a Rock Band game based around The Beatles' catalogue, both parties worked to overcome logistical difficulties and the cult of protectionism that surrounds any use of The Beatles' image.

Harrison worked to win over Apple Corps, talking to McCartney, Starr and Ono about the idea. Toffler went off to convince Harmonix. In the end, following the production of a five-song demo, and an agreement that songs from the entire career of the band would be showcased, a deal was signed.

During development of the game, McCartney, Starr, Ono and Harrison all provided feedback on various aspects of the title, even down to demanding that The Beatles' hair blew about in the wind more when they perform on the roof of the Apple Corps' HQ, as it did on the day in 1969.

That sense of careful control of the image of the band is everywhere in the game. At no point is it possible to make The Beatles look bad, or affect the songs in any way other than to quieten a single instrument temporarily if you miss a note.

The ability to play drum beats before the start and after the end of a track are gone. So too is the ability to do wildcat drum solos in the middle of tracks to active "Overdrive" for extra points (which happens to be renamed "Beatlemania" in B:RB). The control is over every tiny detail, even down to the fact that attaining an extra star doesn't make the little "ding" sound it does in Rock Band 2.

But in its place is boatloads of extra content for Beatles fans. Attaining three and five stars on an individual track will unlock a photo and anecdote about the recording of that track. Each song is bookended by real studio chatter from the original recordings, all the way down to Ringo shouting "I've got blisters on me fingers!" at the end of Helter Skelter.

One benefit over previous versions of the game is that all 45 songs are unlocked from the start. You don't have to play through "Story" mode to get access to every track. If you do, however, you'll find an artfully crafted chronological journey through the band's history, starting at the Cavern Club, and ending on the aforementioned rooftop.

Between each chapter of the band's career, you get a lovely little animation depicting record sleeves, and covering famous episodes that occurred in that timeframe. The game is visually stunning, especially on a big HD display, and very in-keeping with the legacy of the band - particularly when it comes to the "Dreamscapes" that accompany several tracks from The Beatles' studio years.

In terms of features, though, there's very little difference between this game and last year's Rock Band 2. The only major addition is that of harmonies, which you'll need multiple USB mics for, along with a mic stand for singing and playing at the same time. Headset mics won't work, unlike in previous games.

The harmonies aren't easy. In fact they're doggone tough, unless you're a practiced vocalist in real life. Luckily, a trio of vocalists can sing any of the harmony parts without having to worry about who's singing what. As long as you're in tune with at least one of the melodies, you'll score well.

The enhanced plastic instruments are pretty awesome too. Well, the guitars are. The Rickenbacker 325, Gretsch Duo Jet, and Hefner bass are all fantastic representations of the original instruments, and will look great even if you're playing another game in the Rock Band range.

The Ludwig drum kit isn't quite as good, though. It's the same kit as from Rock Band 2, but has a big Beatles logo that stretches across the back of the set, mimicking the bass drum skin, and new pearl-edged drum pads. It looks flimsy and fake compared to the quality of the other Premium instruments.

Difficulty is reasonable throughout - it's easy to see how tricky a particular song is and adjust accordingly. One criticism that could be levelled, however, is that the game is relatively short. The 45 songs can be played through in a couple of hours, making this more suited to perfectionists who'll want to 100% every single song.

More content is on the way, including songs left over from Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper and Rubber Soul that didn't make it into the game. The slow approach is due to the difficulty of splitting apart the content from the old 2-track and 4-track master tapes at Abbey Road. Music from The Beatles' various solo projects will not be included.

Verdict:

The Beatles Rock Band is a fantastic reminiscipackage of musical and visual content that should be firmly in the collection of any Beatles fan. But a question mark hangs over the value of this title for people who aren't so passionate about the band's catalogue.

Little niggles, like not being able to put in your own drum fills, grate considerably when compared to the relative freedom of Rock Band 2. The controlled, and relatively brief, experience puts a slightly bitter aftertaste on a game that is - in every other regard - fantastic fun.

The Beatles Rock Band is an absolute must for Beatles completists and Rock Band completists, but a music fan who hasn't yet dipped a toe into the world of music videogames like Rock Band and Guitar Hero would be better off starting with the excellent Rock Band 2 instead.

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 Music games Beatles The Beatles Rock Band Rock Band Harmonix EA

The Beatles Rock Band - Xbox 360 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Valve is widely regarded as one of the best videogame developers active today. As creators of Half-life, Half-life 2, and Left 4 Dead, and buying up the mod teams responsible for Portal, Counterstrike, Team Fortress and Day of Defeat, the company has established itself a firm place in the pantheon of game creators, as well as in the hearts of gamers.

Valve launched its co-operative zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead, to a rapturous reception in late 2008. Gamers loved its balance, the way the game adapted to good or poor performance from the players, and its visceral combat. However, earlier this year, Valve pulled out a surprise - a prequel, less than a year after the original was released.

While many gamers welcomed the news, a minority were incensed. Why was Valve building another full-price game, when this was content that could have been put into a cheaper expansion? Or free downloadable content for the original? A full-scale boycott was called, with Valve eventually quelling the riots by flying out the leaders of the boycott to their offices to play the game.

It's not clear what happened to those kids in Valve's HQ, but they returned with smiles on their faces, gushing about how incredible the prequel was. Despite initial disbelief from their followers, eventually the mob subsided - trusting Valve to get things right. But was their trust misplaced? Is Left 4 Dead 2 more of the same, or a genuinely different title worth shelling out the extra cash for? Read on to find out.

Left 4 Dead 2 has a totally different setting to its predecessor. The original game was set all over the place - airports, farms, hospitals, and towns. L4D2, on the other hand, is set firmly in the Deep South, in the swamps of Georgia and Louisiana. We were able to get hands-on with a couple of levels of one of the campaigns - The Parish, which takes place in New Orleans - on both the Xbox 360 (including some co-op action) and the PC.

The environments seem to be better constructed than the original's. There are multiple routes to wherever you're trying to go, and you'll uncover extra rewards by exploring rather than hurtling full-pelt towards the exit. More difficult paths will be rewarded with better equipment, including new ammo types. Also of note is that there's now daytime settings - torches aren't as compulsory as they were in the first game.

As well as a different setting, there is a whole new set of "Survivors" who you can play as. There's Rochelle, a news reporter for a TV station, Coach, a high-school football coach who bears somewhat of a resemblance to Uncle Phil from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Ellis, a white-trash mechanic, and Nick, a professional gambler and con-man who mistrusts the other survivors totally.

One of the delights of the original game was the banter between characters that matched the situation you were in. That system has been expanded considerably, and your avatars - when not in the middle of combat - will joke, argue and snipe at each other with an alarmingly realistic uneasy tension.

But the real stars are the new zombies. In addition to the original game's cast of Hunter, Boomer, Smoker, Witch and Tank, there's now the Spitter, the Jockey and the Charger. The Spitter is a long-range attacker who shoots acidic phlegm that splatters over an area and hurts anyone standing in it. Not good when half your team are lying incapacitated on the floor.

The Jockey a tiny, dwarf-sized creature that skitters around emitting a horrible giggle. If it manages to leap on you, then you lose all control of your character - it takes over and steers you around - into traps and hordes of common infected. Lastly, the Charger is a mini-tank that moves very quickly, knocking you down, and can grab a survivor and slam them into the ground.

On their own, they're relatively trivial to deal with. But the problem is that they come in groups. A hunter might pounce on one survivor, while a charger grabs another, before a spitter then covers the ground with acid so that the other team members can't reach their buddies.

The regular infected have had a graphical upgrade too, and location-based damage has been added. If you shoot off an arm or a leg, that zombie's going to still be coming at you. Headshots are imperative, and when a particular infected goes down, you're never totally sure that they're not going to get up again.

As a result, battles seem considerably more intense. Instead of staying back and keeping the hordes at bay with assault rifles, it's now difficult not to get drawn into a scrabbly melee that you only just survive every time - and sometimes you don't survive at all. But it never stops being fun, even after the fifth or sixth attempt. The stories where you don't make it are almost more fun than the ones where you do.

Thankfully, the survivors get a few new tricks. There's the aforementioned ammunition types - incendiary rounds can set zombies on fire, and explosive rounds deal more damage. You can also pick up Boomer bile to throw on enemies (very useful against the tank) and resurrect fallen survivors with the defibrillator.

There's also a much wider range of weapons. AK-47s, scoped assault rifles, Uzis, silenced submachine guns and Desert Eagle pistols are available on the ranged front, and a whole pile of melee weapons can replace your pistol. Those deal considerable damage up close and include saucepans, baseball bats, machetes, and even, quite ridiculously, a guitar.

Verdict:

But, despite all the changes detailed above, Left 4 Dead 2 is still the same game as Left 4 Dead 1. There's piles of new content - weapons, enemies, levels, survivors, but if you didn't enjoy the first version then you'll almost certainly not enjoy the new one.

That said, it seems like everything that was great about the original (the characters, the pace of play) has been enhanced, and a few of the little niggles (like being able to stand in a corner meleeing and survive anything) have been removed. It's most definitely a better game than the already-excellent original.

It'd be even better if the two games were merged somewhat and you could get the original's maps with the new zombies and weapons, or the original characters in situations with the new ones, but it seems like Valve wants to keep the experiences separate.

Is it worth a full game's price tag? From our play-throughs so far, we'd umm and ahh, and probably come out on the side of yes - but only just. It's clear that Valve hasn't rushed L4D2 - it's just been able to build quickly on the successes of the original to create an even better zombie-slaying game. There's a whole tonne of new content, and a more focused experience, but this doesn't seem, in our time with it so far, to be a revolution. Just a (very large) content pack.

Tags: Gaming Xbox 360 EA Left 4 Dead 2 Horror

Left 4 Dead 2 - Xbox 360 / PC - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:15:30 +0000

EA's Rock Band has been rocking the gaming world with its four player band action on the PS3 and Xbox 360 for some time now. EA is clearly hoping that success will translate to a mobile phone version available on the iPhone and iPod touch with the launch of Rock Band for the iPhone and iPod touch. But will it be any good, are you going to strum your way to success on the train, and what about the vocal elements? We managed to get a sneak peak of the new title before its official launch in the App Store.

If you are wondering where you are going to plug in the guitar, bass, drums and microphone, don't. That's right, this is a mobile game designed for a touchscreen phone rather than something on your console. That means there are no accessories, and no having to drag a guitar on the bus or train to work. Instead everything is controlled via you tapping your fingers in tune to the music at the relevant moment, like Guitar Hero on the DS.

As you might expect the game's core values and approach are still here and that means you get to choose up to 20 songs initially to "Rock" to.

The game itself is broken down into a number of different elements; quick play, world tour, multiplayer and a music store that allows you to buy additional songs to play. All are self-explanatory, but the one you will be attempting to play the most is the Multiplayer mode.

Here you get to play up to three other players (four in total) just as you can in the console version. You can connect to other iPods or iPhones via a Bluetooth or wireless connection although for the Wi-Fi they have to be on the same local network.

Players can then grab an "instrument" and start tapping away in tune to the music that blurts out of the speakers or your headphones.

With three difficulty levels and the ability for players to choose different level settings, you should be able to cajole other mates in on the action as long as they have bought the game as well. Disappointingly the vocal selection doesn't require you to sing into your phone or iPod (something to do with EA not believing people would be happy doing that on public transport - what do they know?), but it's still good fun.

Graphics are basic but effective and in our multiplayer gaming session with a spokesperson from EA the game played with zero lag across a Bluetooth connection.

On it's own Rock Band is fun, but short-lived. While our play was brief you could see that unless you like the repetitive nature of tapping on a screen then you'll soon get bored. That said, the multiplayer element is much more fun. While you don't get the bonus of real instruments, you still get to play with you mates on the back of the bus, helping each other out, and generally knowing that you have a better fingering action than your mate.

Verdict:

With pricing details yet to be confirmed, but confirmation from EA that it is likely to be in line with other "premium" games they offer, if you're a Rock Band fan who has an iPhone this will allow you to take the action on the road.

There is no connection with the console version, i.e., you can't share songs, but with 20 to get you started and the ability to buy more from a dedicated music store, this should give you plenty of entertainment, especially when you get your mates involved.

Rock Band for iPhone is expected out at the end of October.

Tags: Gaming Phones Mobile phone games iPhone EA Rock Band iPhone apps Rock Band for iPhone

EA Rock Band for iPhone - First Look originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:33:27 +0100

After FIFA 09 did such an incredible job at astounding football gamers worldwide with its brilliance, the arrival of this year's iteration appeared with more than just a hint of caution. Change too little and we'll be back in the bad old days when everyone loved to hate EA and their seemingly obscene addiction to ripping us off. Fiddle too much with the core gameplay however and we might be right back to the times of the FIFA series being stuck in mid table obscurity.

The biggest shouting point for this years update is surely the inclusion of full 360 degree dribbling. In comparison, football games previously have been stuck to rigid 16 directions (at best) of movement, making the kind of free flowing and multi-directional dribbles witnessed with the likes of Christiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi almost impossible to replicate.

When running merely with a prod of the left analogue stick, your players now pack incredible freedom. For the first time in almost a decade, a football game arrives with the opportunity to go on wickedly tricky runs in the exact manner you desire. Upon sprinting, things do drift back in to the old directional methods due to obviously hampered control and body flexibility, but that's something you'd hope to be included rather than a flaw. Now you can finally curve your runs properly without having to force your player to make slow changes to their body shape and ball control.

Another major inclusion is the Virtual Pro. Fans of last year's version will remember the Be A Pro mode, which allowed you to embark on a career as a created footballer. This has been expanded in a number of ways, making for much more organic development of a footballer.

Firstly, you can, using an uploaded picture, give the player your own face. Not a game changing option, but one that stops you fiddling with the options in order to give your Pro a somewhat vague resemblance of yourself.

Second, this player is available in the squad of your favourite team in all options. Which means that simply playing an exhibition match allows you to increase your player's stats and abilities. There's a huge number of Achievements to unlock using your Virtual Pro, some of which will take a ridiculously lengthy amount of time to unlock, with each affecting your players abilities.

Getting 100% of them seems to be impossible at first glance, particularly as a number are striker/defender centric. But only a number of months with the game will show if this adversely affects this particular option. You can even use your player online, and sign-up to online teams to play as a part of huge leagues and competitions. A real treat, especially as your stats are constantly updated so you can easily see just how impressive you truly are.

The last, and probably not quite fully realised addition, is the chance to design your own set pieces. In the Arena, you can set-up and test out your own designed free kicks and corner routines. You can set runs for specific players in order to create holes in the defence, or simply send your big lumbering centre halves to attack the far post for a lofted free kick. It initially feels unwieldy and complex, but after a few minutes it dawns on you just how little there is you can play around with other than simply creating curved runs for your attacking players. It's a shame a little more time hasn't been spent making sure this options is an essential piece of the FIFA jigsaw, but its still worthy of your time.

Other than those major additions, things aren't that much different to last year. The usual exhibition and tournament modes remain, as do the usual wealth of multiplayer options both on and offline. There does seem to be much more in the way of setting options for online play in order to avoid constant fixtures against gamers obsessed with playing as the top teams, and points are alleged to be rewarded for performances and not just results, but at the time of writing the servers are yet to be populated.

On the pitch, the ball physics have undergone huge improvement. Cross-field passes now are much harder and flatter, and not the lofty interception-waiting-to-happen offerings included last year. Crosses into the box too are much more curved and appearing much closer to the whipped-in versions we see in real life. Similarly, player physics have also been ramped up, with much more weight and jostling between players fighting for the ball.

Verdict:
The best football simulation game ever? We'd say so. The additions have hugely improved what was already a stunning title, and the new Virtual Pro options will surely keep many a gamer addicted as they attempt to be the best in the world.

If Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 is to better this, Konami have really got a lot of time on the training pitch ahead of them.

Tags: Gaming PS3 Sports games FIFA 10 EA Sports Fitness

FIFA 10 - PS3 originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:43:01 +0100